


The Best That You Found

by nagi_schwarz



Series: Play Along [8]
Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: F/M, band au, musician au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-13
Updated: 2016-06-13
Packaged: 2018-07-14 19:06:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,006
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7186343
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nagi_schwarz/pseuds/nagi_schwarz
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Written for the comment_fic prompt: "Stargate Multiverse, John Sheppard +/ Any, Making it big with his band."</p><p>The Space Monkeys make it big.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Best That You Found

Richard Woolsey knew the John Sheppard was going to make it big the first time he saw John Sheppard curl his hands around his guitar and make it weep. His technical skill with a guitar was unremarkable; he was good, but there were plenty of budding young guitarists out there who were displaying much better skill on YouTube. What John Sheppard had was passion, emotion, lightning in a bottle, and he’d figured out how to turn it into musical ambrosia for an audience to drink down. Richard knew the Space Monkeys were going to make it big the first time he saw a girl stop John in the alley behind a club and ask for his autograph.  
  


*

  
Ronon knew the band was going to make it big the first time he heard an entire bar full of people join in on the chorus of The General, swaying and sing along, _Go now, you are forgiven._ When cheers rose up at the beginning of that song, it was usually because of the epic opening riffs John played, the jumping hammer chords that sounded like they required at least three hands to play. John was lost in his guitar, but Ronon and Teyla exchanged grins. Ronon loved this song so much, played it proudly, because it reminded him of his grandfather, who was basically too deaf at this point to hear any of the music Ronon and the band made. To have a hundred odd voices join with Ronon’s own made him feel like he’d been picked up and swept off his feet, set loose to fly in the air. The next time they played the song, none of the band had to even open their mouths for the audience, because the audience was already there with the lyrics and melody.  
  


*

  
Rodney knew the band had made it big the first time they stepped into a studio to record a demo and he saw the equipment. He’d worked a lot of odd - and downright shady - jobs in high school to be able to afford what recording equipment he had, enough for a few demos or for them just to record the songs they cared about, or for him to record songs he was writing so he could hear them and build on. His recording equipment was Legos, and the soundboards and microphones and condensers and amps in this studio were the multi-ton sandstone blocks that made up the pyramids. The songs he - and the others - had written were good, damn good. With this kind of equipment, though, they would sound amazing. Their music would be unstoppable.  
  


*

  
Jennifer knew the band had made it big the first time she heard their single, Prince Charming of Nothing, on the radio. She was wiping down tables in the student union cafeteria, enjoying the mindlessness of it all after the emotional strain of dealing with cranky college students during the lunch rush, and then she heard John’s voice and his strumming guitar and realized it was their song. Chuck, counting out the money from the lunch rush, bobbed his head absently to Teyla’s beat. When the song ended, the DJ said, “That’s the first single from up-and-coming band the Space Monkeys. If you like what you hear, you can check them out on tour this summer, because they’ll be opening for The Snakeskinners. Speaking of the Snakeskinners, here’s their latest single, Die Born.” If Jennifer was dancing a little bit as she wended her way back to the kitchen to deposit her wet cleaning rag on the laundry pile, it was no one’s business but her own.

 

*

John knew the band was going to make it big the first time he stepped out onto the stage before the Snakeskinners were supposed to come on and could see, in the crowd, boys and girls wearing Space Monkeys T-shirts. So he grinned, strummed a chord on his guitar, and leaned into the mic.   
  
“How’s everyone doing tonight?”  
  
The crowd’s roar of approval told John everything he needed to know. He glanced over his shoulder at Ronon, who was plucking a walking bass line, and Ronon nodded. Teyla nodded, and Jennifer flashed him a thumbs up, and in the wings, Rodney was watching, biting his lip, arms crossed over his chest, radiating anxiety. John wanted to assure him that everything would be all right, the band had it made.  
  
John said, “Let’s get this party started,” and behind him, Teyla and Jennifer exploded to life with the opening lines of Doped Up Dollies on a One Way Ticket to Blood.  
  
 _Boom goes the dynamite dynamite dynamite_  
Boom goes the dynamite dynamite boom!  
  


*

  
Jeannie knew the Space Monkeys had made it big the first time someone stopped her on campus and said, “You’re brother’s dating the keyboardist for the Space Monkeys, right?”  
  


*

  
Dave knew the Space Monkeys had made it big when Betty, who staunchly refused to listen to any song published or recorded after 1960, came to deliver a copy of Rolling Stone to Patrick Sheppard, along with his usual stack of morning mail, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, and the London Times.  
  
“You must be so proud of John,” she said.  
  
Patrick looked up and blinked. “I generally am.”  
  
He’d never said as much to John. Dave kept his head down and kept transcribing correspondence.  
  
“Why?” Patrick asked.  
  
Betty nudged the magazine toward him. “Page thirty-seven. He’s so talented. Just like Helena was.” Betty beamed at Dave as she left the office.  
  
Dave managed to come up with an excuse to exit his father’s office before the man finished the Rolling Stones article and asked Dave questions he wasn’t ready to answer.  
  


*

  
Teyla knew the band had made it big the first time she was standing in line at the grocery store and the cashier girl, whose conversational gambits with the elderly customer ahead of Teyla fell flat, began to hum Kicking My Heels absently, under her breath, like it was her go-to song when she wasn’t distracted by anything else.


End file.
